The New South Wales review of local government is under way with the first meeting between the Independent Local Government Review Panel and councils in Broken Hill this week.

 

The meeting was the first of more than 20 scheduled over the next month that will feed into decisions about NSW’s 152 councils, their boundaries, services and their financial sustainability.

 

The Independent Local Government Review Panel is chaired by Professor Graham Sansom and includes Ms Jude Munro and Mr Glenn Inglis.

 

Key issues the review is addressing are:
• Councils' ability to support the current and future needs of local communities;
• Councils' ability to deliver infrastructure and services effectively;
• The financial sustainability of each local government area;
• ability for local representation and decision-making
• barriers and incentives to encourage voluntary boundary changes.

 

Professor Sansom said the Panel had productive discussions with representatives from Broken Hill, Central Darling and Wentworth Councils at the Broken Hill meeting, as well as meeting with representatives of community organisations from the Far West region.

 

The panel has released a consultation paper, which provides a number of key questions to open the discussion, with an opportunity to respond via an on-line feedback form, email, or written submissions.

 

Responding to concerns that  local councils will not have enough time to make submissions to its background paper, given the upcoming local government elections, Professor Sansom said the background paper was just the first stage of the consultation process.

 

 “The background paper is only asking councils for their general views on the challenges facing their communities and the need to strengthen local government. It does not seek specific proposals on future arrangements,” he said.

 

  “Those more sensitive issues will be outlined in a later paper to be released in late October or early November, well after the local government elections, so the newly elected councils will be able to make their views known then. That will be followed by further consultations with local government, other interested organisations and local communities. The Panel does not have to report until July next year.”

Prof Sansom said there was no pre‐arranged link between the closing dates for the local government review and the State Government’s planning Green Paper. “We are an Independent Panel in the very early stages of our work. Of course the Green Paper is an important document that we will have to take into account, but as yet we have not had any discussions with Minister Hazzard or his department.”

The review is being carried out in 4 stages:

Identifying key issues and exploring ideas (July‐September 2012)

 

Options for change (October 2012 – January 2013)

 

Future Directions (February – May 2013)

 

Final report (June – July 2013)

 

The Panel’s background paper Strengthening your Community  and details about consultation meetings and making submissions are available on the website at www.localgovernmentreview.nsw.gov.au .